sean

joined 2 years ago
[–] sean@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

I will! See my other comment for a book recommendation

[–] sean@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

This book is the one I've liked most. It's more detailed than most of the books I've read, which I want! But there are lots of good books out there. What I've learned is that flowering is a complex process governed by many different factors and differs between species (of which there are tens of thousands for orchids!).

First it needs to be healthy, so getting appropriate levels of light, water, humidity, and temperature. Then it may need some kind of environmental trigger, this could be daylength/seasonality, change of temperature, or even change in atmospheric pressure from a storm! But then the total opposite too: if a plant is dying it may flower as a last ditch effort at reproducing itself. So basically it's pretty impossible to make it flower on purpose unless you know the specific needs of your plant, just keep it healthy and hope for the best :)

Generally Phaelenopsis orchids (the most commonly available for sale and iconic type) want to be heavily watered (even soaking the pot for 15-30 minutes) and then allowed to dry almost completely over a week or two, more or less depending on the temperature and humidity. Keeping the soil/bark constantly moist causes the roots to rot, so you want it to dry (but not so much that the leaves get floppy/wrinkly). They like bright but indirect light, which is tricky -- not direct sunlight but in a bright location all day. Warm temps, with night time minimums above 60. Higher humidity (mist them with a sprayer sometimes if you can). At least that's what I have taken away from the reading I've done!

[–] sean@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

It's pretty good! I have only listened to a few episodes so far. I have tended to skip through the first 30-40% of the episodes, which has been a lot of discussion of the guest's academic training and career, which isn't very interesting to me personally. After they finish talking about that, I usually enjoy the rest of each episode!

[–] sean@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Wow! Good luck getting to 100! What city are you in?

I heard about the orchid project on this podcast episode, a pretty interesting interview: https://www.indefenseofplants.com/podcast/2022/5/29/ep-371-the-million-orchid-project

[–] sean@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This is pretty out of the box. It's just something we've wanted to do for awhile and we're using the 4th of July as an opportunity:

DIY nacho bar: everyone gets a cookie sheet, there's a table with various chips, cheeses, and toppings, and you take turns under the broiler

DIY sundae bar: same thing, but ice cream (and no broiler!)

[–] sean@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

Yes, not many foods would look very good if you judged based on a version from an airport! Relatedly I try not to remember a city based on the surroundings of the airport, it's usually a pretty grim area.

[–] sean@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago (4 children)

What a cute idea! How many have you given away so far?

Reminds me a bit of the Million Orchid Project, where plants are given to community members and schools to plant out in their community https://fairchildgarden.org/science-and-education/science/million-orchid-project/

[–] sean@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

I love how paprika will extract the ingredients and cooking instructions from a recipe site so I don't have to hunt through a page that's a mile long!

[–] sean@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

It looks terrific! I've never seen one of those growing so rambunctiously. Why do you think your succulents usually get leggy?

[–] sean@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Wow! I've never seen one in bloom. To be honest I never even considered they could

[–] sean@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

So satisfying to bring a plant back from the dead! Congratulations! The color is really pretty in the newest picture. Does it normally change color throughout the year or is the color change a reaction to the stress?

[–] sean@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago
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